Large Gotland Felted Fleece ‘Armel’ – Handcrafted in Wales

This large Gotland felted fleece rug has been handcrafted with Armel’s 2023 fleece. A fabulous huge size heavy sheepskin style rug with thick warm felt on the underside. It features a beautiful scrolling design on the felt that is inspired by the myths and legends and magic of it’s native Wales.

The rug: Huge heavy wool rug made with Armel’s gorgeous curly fleece. Handcrafted using the whole fleece from Armel and backed with wool from other sheep in the flock. This is a heavy-weight fleece. The backing felt is wonderfully thick and features a gorgeous design made from handspun yarn and lengths of carded wool. This design is carefully created prior to felting so it becomes one with the fleece during the felting process. Armels name and the bear paw print were needle felted on as a finishing touch. The name Armel can trace its roots back to a Welsh name meaning bear prince. Knowing this I felt inspired by the magic and myths of Wales when I was working on this fleece and the design grew from the colours and swirls within Armels fleece. The fleece itself is beautifully curly and wavy with tighter curls down the centre and loose wavy locks on the rear and front of the fleece. It has a lot of the characteristics of a Gotland fleece including the stormy warm grey colours and beautiful glossy shine. Because of the heaviness, this fleece will make a super rug but equally, it would be wonderful to place on a sofa or large chair to sit upon. This is a very versitile fleece it is naturally minimal moulting thanks to the quality of Armels fleece and so suitable for a variey of uses.

The sheep: Armel is a handsome sweet Gotland crossbreed sheep. His mum is Frieda a pure Gotland sheep and his dad is Bruno. Armel also has a twin sister Ursa who lives here too. The name Armel can trace it’s roots back to the Welsh name Arthmael meaning bear prince. There was something very bear cub like in the looks of Armel and his sister when they were baby lambs, hence the names.

The process: This rug has been made with the whole of Armels fleece. Carded wool from some of our other sheep including Poppy, Daffy and Armel’s mum Frieda is placed on the back and then the swirly pattern is arranged upon this. Everything is then felted by hand to become one. It is made with a lot of care and time entirely by hand. Working the felt slowly like this makes for a much stronger even smooth felt. No felting machines or rollers are used to speed up the process nor washing machines or driers.  This is a completely handmade product every element has been created by my hands and the flock at our farm in Wales – from shearing the sheep to washing and carding and spinning the wool to the felting process itself. Made as naturally and as nature-friendly as possible. The sale of this item directly sustains the sheep it pays for their feed and upkeep of the land and barns enabling the flock to live long happy lives here munching away and growing wonderful wool.

Details:

Size: Measurements taken on the fluffy fleece side. The rug is a natural irregular shape it measures approx 140cm in length and 80-110cm in width with the narrowest measurements at the neck and places where the fleece draws in and the widest parts being across the middle and rear leg area.

Wool texture: The feel of this fleece is soft and silky.  Armels fleece has many of the characteristics of a Gotland fleece. The backing felt is also soft but may feel a little prickly in places where the roots of the fleece poke through the felt, this is normal and shows how well the two halves (fleece and carded backing wool) have become one.

Colour: Natural warm stormy greys. Please see all photos of the rug in different lighting conditions.

Hair loss: Minimal – there is a little loss of hair which is normal. Armel’s fleece is a particularly good minimal moulting fleece due to the type of wool. All felted fleeces moult or shed to some degree some more than others. Moulting typically lessens over time.

VM(aka hay/grass seeds etc): Few and far between with this item. But as always you may find the odd wisp of hay or grass seed from the Welsh Hillside within the fleece and felt I have done my best to remove the ones I came across. This is a natural item gently made by hand and sheep. There is a whole story behind it! The wool it is made from has spent a whole year outside growing on a sheep. It’s been through a lot, it’s seen a lot, it’s kept a sheep warm and dry and even cool at times.. its probably been dragged through a hedge (or two!), splattered with mud at some point, sprinkled with hay at another and rolled around in the spring clover as it naturally started to rise and break away from its 4 legged creator and I got my shears out – all that and the wool still looks beautiful.. none the worse for wear.. isn’t wool amazing!

Fleeces naturally get washed during the felting process and then they all get a proper wash or two after they are felted so they are thoroughly clean and smell divine. They are left to dry in the open air or sometimes draped beside the stove in winter. I am passionate about keeping things natural and energy use to a minimum when making my woollen crafts. Hence I do not wash fleeces in a washing machine or use a tumble drier to dry and fluff them up.

If you have any questions or queries at all please send me a message I will be happy to help.

You can meet Armel and read more about him and his pals here.